Not So Fast; Mattel’s Win over MGA May Be Thrown Out Over a Mistrial

“Barbie-Bratz Juror Booted for Ethnic Slurs; MGA Asks for Mistrial.” That was the headline from Dan Slater’s June 25, 2008 Wall Street Journal “Law Blog.”
  So, I guess it really isn’t over until it’s over . . . at least for Isaac Larian and MGA. According to the June 25, 2008 Wall Street Journal article “. . . Judge Stephen G. Larson dismissed one of the jurors for making an inappropriate ethnic comment against MGA Chief Executive Isaac Larian during deliberations. Mr. Larian, is …Jewish [and] is an Iranian immigrant.”

The Journal reported that: The matter arose after a juror informed Judge Larson that the fellow juror had made the comments at the end of deliberations that led to last week’s verdict. The judge ruled in a court order that the comments were "grossly inappropriate… [B]ut the judge said the remarks had "no impact" on the jury’s decision.” I won’t quote what the juror said but let’s just say that it was incredibly prejudiced against Iranians.

MGA has asked for a mistrial and it is unclear as of this writing whether one will be granted. MGA’s attorney “… said the dismissed juror had given ‘truth to her hidden biases, which she should have disclosed during jury selection.’ He added that MGA was "entitled to a unanimous verdict from fair and impartial jurors. It’s not enough that only nine of them were fair." 

It certainly speaks well for the American system of justice that the juror’s extreme prejudice was exposed and repudiated through her dismissal. It isn’t so good for Mattel, however, if their incredible victory gets thrown out of court. Nor is it good news for Toy Nation, already bruised by a year of bad news and now facing continuing untoy like press for its leading manufacturer. 

Unfortunately, we all need to stay tuned to this game that may just be entering extra innings.